


when next we meet

by uptillthree



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff & Angst, Gen, Reunion Fic, all the paladins are there but the focus is on pidge and matt obvs, hints of genderfluid/nonbinary pidge, sort of, this is v self indulgent and rushed, though i use she/her pronouns for pidge here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-11-13 06:20:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11178852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uptillthree/pseuds/uptillthree
Summary: Hunk had told her to eat, and when Pidge had said nothing, he brought her a meal. Keith had told her to change out of her dirty paladin gear, and when Pidge had, still, said nothing, he said he would guard Matt closely while she left to change. Shiro had told her to rest, and without waiting for a response, offered to watch Matt while she napped, promising to wake her as soon as Matt did.Lance had told her, simply, that Matt would be alright soon, but also that he understood how it felt, to worry all the time for your family.All in all, Pidge was grateful.





	when next we meet

**Author's Note:**

> i churned this all out in one day so like pls, just. bear with me. i haven't even watched season 2, so, probably-definitely not canon-compliant? by the time season 3 comes along this will probably be completely wrecked by canon, yay. but i have matt headcanons and pidge Feelings and they had to go somewhere, so.

When Pidge had first applied to the Garrison, she'd hoped— dreamed, really— for a happy reunion.

She'd be so good at everything, they'd ship her off into space in like, a month, tops, complete with a _youngest pilot!_ announcement, and she’d man her own ship and go farther than was ever thought possible and track down Matt and her father on some weird, nice planet, and everything would be _okay._ They’d hug her, maybe she’d cry, they’d all be so happy, so _proud,_ and back home before she knew it.

That sort of naivety had quickly worn off in the Garrison.

Pidge had not been special; being a pilot was difficult and grueling and did not fit her like a second skin the way it did with, say, Lance or Shiro. She’d always liked science; it was something she shared with Matt and Dad, but this was advanced, and serious, and just so _hard._ She was better at technical and comms work than field or combative work. And apparently the youngest pilot had been twelve, so it wasn’t like she could ever beat _that_ statistic.

Still. She’d worked hard.

Enough to advance a year or two and get assigned with Lance and Hunk. And then Voltron had come along and sped the process up a little further, and here they were.

Here they were.

Here was Matt on the bunker beside her, exhausted and unconscious but recovering, and for all the joyful fantasies Pidge had once had about their reunion, now all she felt was a numb sort of apprehension.

Hunk had told her to eat, and then, when Pidge had said nothing, he’d brought her a meal. Keith had told her to change out of her dirty paladin gear, and then, when Pidge had, still, said nothing, he’d said he would guard Matt closely while she left to change. Shiro had told her to rest, and then, without waiting for a response, offered to watch Matt while she napped, promising to wake her as soon as Matt did.

Lance had told her, simply, that Matt would be alright soon, but also that he understood how it felt, to worry all the time for your family.

All in all, Pidge was grateful.

 

 

Matthew Holt woke after nearly three days.

He’d woken from time to time before, but he had been barely coherent, only sipping water and whatever healing medicines Coran prescribed him. His body had been pushed past his limits, Coran explained to her, and the crashing was a form of recovery.

Now, Matt’s eyes fluttered all the way open, and he was looking at Pidge tiredly, but also with a sharp awareness.

Pidge had been afraid there would be questions, and worry, and an overprotectiveness she didn't need— Matt was like that. But Matt was just staring at her with a sort of shocked awe— which was kind of pleasing— and what he said, first of all, was:

"Katie."

Pidge startled. No one had called her Katie since— well. Shiro had, once, in those first few weeks together, but everyone else called her Pidge, and she'd told Shiro that Pidge was her preference now, anyway, and he'd nodded and acquiesced without another word.

"Yeah," was all Pidge said, and her pulse felt like it was beating abnormally fast. Maybe she was dying. Of heartache. It could happen. "Hey. Matt."

“You… you look different,” Matt said, but Matt looked different too. Older. Maybe it was the lack of glasses. Though, with Pidge, people said the glasses made _her_ look older. “Your hair… wha’ happened t’your hair?” He sounded like he was going to fall back asleep.

“My—” Pidge’s hand flew to her hair. The last time Matt had seen it, it had come down almost to her waist. Right. “I cut it. I enrolled in the Garrison.” She didn’t tell him that she’d enrolled as someone else. “I’m gonna call Coran.”

“M’fine,” Matt said, struggling to sit up. “You’re here— I never thought I’d—”

“Don’t say it,” Pidge said, and called for Coran.

 

 

Coran came quickly, and with Shiro on his heels, which was predictable of him. Shiro gripped Pidge’s shoulder hard while Coran scanned Matt’s physical and mental conditions.

“You should go and eat,” he reminded her. “You missed breakfast and you haven’t eaten lunch.”

“No, it’s—”

Matt had heard him, and poked his head around the glowing Altean scans. “Go and eat, Katie,” he said. “I’ll be fine.”

Before she left, Shiro hugged Pidge hard. “I’m happy for you,” he told her.

Pidge was a little surprised. “He’s your friend too.”

“Yeah,” he said, and when he pulled away he was beaming. Smiles like that were rare, from Shiro. But then, Pidge was grinning too, and maybe victories like this had been rare for both of them. “I’m happy in general.”

 

 

Pidge hadn’t realized she was starving until she reached the dinner hall and found the others there too, just talking.

Alarmingly, a lump formed in her throat. She felt ridiculously near tears.

“Matt’s awake,” she said, wishing her voice betrayed nothing. She was certain it betrayed quite a lot, actually, but Lance and Hunk cheered anyway, and even Keith offered his congratulations. Pidge had a very good team.

“That’s _amazing,_ Pidge,” Allura said, her voice warm and gentle. Within a few seconds Pidge was seated and a meal set before her.

Pidge might’ve inhaled the food. The memory was kind of blurry. She really was hungry.

After she finished eating, she stood up to go to back to Matt’s quarters immediately, and no one objected, though Hunk looked like he badly wanted to. Lance had given her a thumbs up and said, in an oddly quiet voice, “We all can’t wait to meet him, Pidge.”

“I— yeah. I know.” The lump was back in her throat. She left before any of them could notice, almost running on the way back.

She entered the room without knocking, which, in hindsight, she really shouldn’t have.

Matt and Shiro were kissing.

And not even the sort of kiss that was, say, a peck on the lips, or a brief press of lips to forehead or cheek. No, they were kissing deeply and softly, Shiro’s brows furrowed in concentration, half-sitting in the chair and half-leaning over Matt, whose head was tilted up to meet him, eyes closed, face relaxed and open.

“What the fuck,” said Pidge, loudly and without preamble, and watched smugly as Matt and Shiro sprung apart.

“Oh, God,” Matt said, burying his face in the pillow. “God, Kate, I hate you _so much,_ go away.”

Shiro, meanwhile, was staring at Pidge a little guiltily, flushed and rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous habit. Pidge raised her eyebrows at him. Shiro shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged, in a way that said: _Well then?_ Pidge was going to deck him.

“Oh, shut up, Katie,” Matt said, surfacing from the pillows. “It— this—” he gestured wildly between him and Shiro “— it’s happening, okay?”

Pidge snorted. “Yeah, I can see that.”

“I meant— you’re not allowed to butt in or be rude about it.”

Pidge considered it. She knew, intellectually, that Shiro just plain did not have it in him to be a heartbreaker, but she had the urge to be difficult anyway. Surely that was her right as Matt’s sibling, or something?

She crossed her arms. “If either of you hurt each other,” she declared, “I’ll kill you. Shiro, get out.”

“Wait, which one of us will you kill?”

“Katie, you’re _so_ embarrassing—”

“Both of you. You’re dead to me. Out, Shiro! You can make out with him later, Matt and I just need to have _the talk.”_

 _“Katie,”_ Matt whined. Laughing, Shiro let himself be thrown out.

 

 

By the next day, Matt was cleared and ready to meet the rest of the team. As expected, Matt was a little nervous, but Pidge was anxious enough for both of them. Matt was still asking questions about how she’d gotten to Altea, and how she’d done in the Garrison, and about all her misadventures in space— and he was still calling her _Katie._

“I have to tell you something,” Pidge said as they walked.

“Kate, relax—”

“Stop calling me that.” It slipped out before Pidge could soften the words.

Matt frowned, looking hurt. “What? Why—”

“No, I meant— my name’s Pidge now.”

“Pidge,” Matt said slowly, testing the name on his tongue. “Right.”

“Yep.”

Then, inexplicably, Matt snorted. “Why Pidge?” he said, mouth quirked up. Pidge pushed him, hard, and Matt nearly toppled over. “I’m serious, I just wanna know! Why did you change your name?”

It was as Pidge had feared: It felt as though there was a gap between them that would take weeks, maybe months, to bridge again. It wasn’t like before.

Strangely, though, that was all right.

“It’s— I like it better, I guess,” Pidge explained. Or tried to. “I enrolled in the Garrison under that name, and I’m… more comfortable with it now.”

“Oh. Pidge Holt,” Matt said, and this time the name seemed to settle easily between them. “Okay.”

“Well— no. I enrolled under Pidge Gunderson, but— you’re right. Pidge Holt.”

Matt started laughing again. _“Gunderson?_ How’d you come up with _that?”_

“Shut up!”

Matt did shut up, but then he asked, awkwardly, “Are you still— d’you still identify as a girl, though, or… ?”

Pidge was surprised again. No one had asked her that before, not even Shiro. “I— sometimes.” Today she did. Other times, she didn’t. Sometimes neither. “It’s complicated.” Pidge had never claimed to have _everything_ figured out.

But Matt nodded seriously. “Okay.” Of all the people Pidge knew— Matt was probably going to be the one who took the news best. “Last question. What are _those?”_ He reached forward and pushed Pidge’s glasses up her nose.

Pidge felt heat creep up her cheeks. “It’s— they’re not yours! They’re— the lenses are different!” She wasn’t sounding very convincing. Or dignified. “I needed a disguise to get in the Garrison.”

Matt sniggered. “Your ‘disguise’ is so half-assed I’m surprised no one noticed.”

“Fuck off,” Pidge said flatly, and strode ahead of him.

 

 

Voltron was busy when they got to headquarters. Shiro, Allura, and Hunk were at the computers; there was a big pile of alien tech between them. Lance and Keith were sparring at the other end of the room— or, Keith was. Lance was just getting beaten up.

“Pidge!” Hunk said when they approached, looking relieved. “And hey, Matt. Pidge, there’s this pod that crashed last night, and we were wondering if you could get any info from—”

“On it.” Pidge’s fingers found the keyboards and flew.

“I’m awful at technical work,” Hunk said cheerfully. “Welcome to the team, Matt.”

“I can help,” said Matt, sitting beside her. “If it’s an empty escape pod, it’s suspicious. But this thing doesn’t look that secure or high-quality, so we should be able to—”

Pidge usually worked alone, when it came to technicals. “There’s no need, I can—”

“I’ll help,” pressed Matt quietly, and his fingers flew on the keyboard just as fast as hers did, diagrams and codes flashing on the screens, hacking into the tech.

Oh. Pidge sat back a moment. By now, she was used to having a team, but not— a partner.

“Okay,” she said, after a moment, and went to finish the job with him.

**Author's Note:**

> talk voltron to me @uptillthree on twitter and @julesdap on tumblr.


End file.
